Our membership consists of chapters at universities on five continents. We draw on the combined strengths of students in undergraduate studies as well as graduate schools of law, medicine, public health, basic and applied sciences, and government.

UAEM is governed by a salaried Executive Director, a volunteer Board of Directors of both professionals and students, and a volunteer Coordinating Committee of students. We are supported by an Advisory Board which includes Dr. Paul Farmer, Nobel laureate in Medicine Sir John Sulston, and experts in law and access to medicines.

UAEM’s aims are threefold:

To promote access to medicinesfor people in developing countries by changing norms and practices arounduniversity patenting and licensing

To ensure that university medical research meets the needs of the majority of the world’s population

Our work has been described in news outlets and peer-reviewed journals including Bloomberg News, JAMA, the British Medical Journal, PLoS Medicine, PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, Nature Reviews Microbiology, and many others. Find a list of our publications here. More information may be found on the UAEM website.

Harvard UAEM Mission & Values

Every year, 10 million people die unnecessarily because they lack access to existing medical treatments; high prices and legal barriers are often contributing factors. A further billion people are infected with one or more so-called “neglected” diseases, for which safe and effective treatments have not been developed because the patients are too poor to provide an economic incentive.

In both cases, universities are well-placed to make a difference. University scientists are major contributors to the drug development pipeline. At the same time, universities are commited to advancing the public good.

With this in mind, Universities Allied for Essential Medicines, an interdisciplinary group of university students, aims to enhance the global health impact of our schools’ biomedical research. We advocate for universities to ensure that biomedical end products, such as drugs, developed in campus labs are affordable and accessible in poor countries, and we work to reduce or eliminate barriers to research on neglected diseases.

Read more about UAEM’s work across Canada, the US, and the UK at uaem.org.